I’ve always enjoyed flipping through a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records whenever I’ve come across one. (I’ve had great luck at garage sales and, w
eirdly, medical professionals’ offices.) It’s humbling to consider the marvels we humans can accomplish — from memorizing decimals of pi (70,000, by Rajveer Meena), to growing the longest fingernails (8.65 metres, by Lee Redmond), to my personal favourite, achieving the Guinness World Record for the most Guinness World Records (over 700 since 1979, by Ashrita Furman).
I’d resigned myself to never having the time or the athletic skill to rack up a Guinness Record myself. But that was before I read this charming account of the quest for the greatest number of M&Ms candies stacked on top of each other. I was not prepared for the current record: a whopping seven.
“Guinness World Records posted a video of the achievement on Instagram last week — and with seven candies, it looks really difficult. [Record holder Ibrahim] Sadeq wears special finger gloves and needs plenty of effort to steady the final stack. He’s also an accomplished stacker in general: Sadeq is co-holder of the world record for Most Balanced Eggs on the Back of the Hand. (It’s 18 eggs.) […]
So what was Sadeq’s trick to get to seven? ‘I am using a mix of mind and body focus but people usually define it as a gravity defying act,’ Sadeq, who says he’s been stacking things for six years, told Guinness World Records. ‘I could possibly balance anything, but it gets really tough with light objects or liquids.’”
The record for stacked M&Ms was four back in 2016, and in the past 15 months alone the record was beaten three separate times, with Sadeq ending up on top. For now — I’m tempted to try for this bizarrely accessible-sounding record myself! I’m sure it’s more frustrating than it looks though; I may benefit more from the repeated, zen-like encounters with failure that I’m certain will result. Either way, this is a case of sometimes it pays to play with your food!